Who Am I?

I have been immersed in the world of yoga since I was a young girl. My very first yoga teacher was my mother. I have such a clear and distinct memory of being 8 years old and asking my mother: “What is Yoga?” Her answer mystified me, being so young. She answered: “Yoga means ‘balance.’” In those days I didn’t quite understand what that meant. At that time it had already been a few years that she had been studying and practicing yoga and meditation with great devotion. I went with her to all the classes and sessions she was taking with an Indian guru who was touring Canada and the US. It was the 1970’s and there was a growing group of people who were truly pioneers in exploring the world of yoga and finding out how its teachings can transform lives. Every day they would come to my house for their yoga meetings and I would sit and listen and laugh and absorb the energy of it, even though I didn’t really know what they were talking about.

Years later, in 1988 I traveled to India for the first time to the ash ram where my mother had decided to devote her life. I have traveled there every year since, delving into all aspects of the yoga tradition at the International Meditation Institute (I.M.I. ) in Kullu, in the North Western Himalayas where my mother still lives nearly 40 years later! It was at the institute that I was introduced to yoga philosophy in all its glory. I studied the Sanskrit language, several yoga and vedantic scriptures such as the Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra (to name but a few) as well as chanting, meditation, hatha, kriya and restorative yoga.

In 1999 I started teaching yoga in Toronto, while continuing my studies in Ashtanga Yoga with the incomparable Ron Reid at the Downward Dog. In 2001, I began teaching yoga philosophy, Sanskrit, chanting and meditation in various teacher training programs around the city, and have trained hundreds of teachers since then at Yoga Space, Octopus Garden, IAM Yoga and Sananda Yoga. I love mentoring new teachers as well as introducing new students in the amazing benefits of this awesome tradition.

In 2002 I took my first group of yoga students with me to India, and have since lead several pilgrimage voyages to the Himalayas, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Varanasi, Rajasthan, New Delhi and Mumbai.

I am so passionate about this subject. It is my life’s joy to share this knowledge and this practice with anyone and everyone who has the interest to dive into it!